‘Kung Fu Panda 3’, ‘Ride Along 2’ & More Get New Posters

Fall 2015 is just around the corner (at the time of writing this) and with it will come the expected year-end rush of potential awards season contenders, as well as many a noteable franchise title. Things will have slowed down by next January, though even that month will see the nation-wide expansions for prestigious December 2015 releases (such as Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight), in addition to the debuts of new movies worth noticing (like, Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi).

Today, we’ve rounded up the latest posters for a handful of films arriving in either Fall 2015 or January 2016; in addition to Tarantino’s new western, the roster includes the animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 3, the action/comedy sequel Ride Along 2, the found-footage horror sequel Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, and the (non-sequel) biographical drama Trumbo.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Paramount Pictures and Blumhouse Productions will release Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension – the overall sixth and (supposedly) final installment in the Paranormal Activity franchise – in October 2015. You can check out the new poster for the film, below:

The Ghost Dimension narrative – credited to screenwriting pair Andrew Deustchman and Jason Pagan (Project Almanac) as well as writing duo Gavin Heffernan and Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan) – revolves around a new family that ends up being haunted by demonic Toby, but also promises to answer long-running questions from the previous Paranormal Activity installments.

Director Gregory Plotkin (the longtime PA franchise editor) looks to deliver one of the most effects-heavy Paranormal Activity films yet judging by the Ghost Dimension trailer; whether or not there will be a similar uptick in overall quality from recent installments, though, is another matter.

–

Trumbo

Bleecker Street Films has unveiled the first poster for Trumbo, a biopic starring Bryan Cranston as the famous blacklisted screenwriter/author Dalton Trumbo. You can check out the one-sheet, below:

Here is the official synopsis for Trumbo:

The successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs. TRUMBO (directed by Jay Roach) tells the story of his fight against the U.S. government and studio bosses in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.

Roach enjoyed newfound critical acclaim for his work directing HBO’s award-winning true-story political drama Game Change in 2012, while Cranston’s long been celebrated for his television roles, including (of course) his award-winning work on Breaking Bad. Could Trumbo end up bringing the pair newfound respect for their big screen efforts, too?

Trumbo’s story was adapted for the film medium by Aquarius TV show creator John McHamara, so it remains to be seen if Trumbo amounts to more than your average well-acted, but otherwise run of the mill, awards season biopic.

A Trumbo trailer was recently classified, so look for it to drop in the (very) near future.

–

The Hateful Eight

The Weinstein Company has unveiled yet another poster for Hateful Eight (via EW), which is the latest original film project by Oscar-winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino. You can check out the one-sheet – featuring Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh – below:

Hateful Eight is a western set “six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War” (as the official synopsis puts it), as eight stranger wind up trapped in a Wyoming mountainside stopover by a blizzard, only for things to turn ugly from there.

The cast includes several of Tarantino’s longtime acclaimed collaborators (Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, and so forth), while elements such as the film’s 70 mm cinematography or the original score by iconic western genre composter Ennio Morricone likewise has cinephiles all the more excited to see what Tarantino delivers with his new motion picture.

Ride Along 2

Universal Pictures has debuted the first poster for Ride Along 2, the sequel to the lucrative Ice Cube/Kevin Hart buddy action/comedy Ride Along. Have a look at that one-sheet, below:

Official story details for Ride Along 2 will be revealed soon, as the sequel’s first trailer has been classified and is slated to drop online tomorrow (at the time of writing this), before it debuts in theaters attached to Universal’s Straight Outta Compton (also produced by Ice Cube, naturally) this weekend.

Ride Along director Tim Story returned to helm the sequel, drawing from a script by Ride Along co-writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. The Ride Along 2 cast also includes returning Ride Along star Tika Sumpter, as well as series newcomers Ken Jeong (Community), Olivia Munn (The Newsroom), and Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order).

Check back on Screen Rant tomorrow, for the official Ride Along 2 trailer debut!

–

Kung Fu Panda 3

DreamWorks Animation, via Moviefone, has unveiled a fresh poster for Kung Fu Panda 3, the upcoming third installment in the animated martial arts action/comedy franchise (featuring Jack Black as the voice of Po the Panda). Check out that one-sheet, below:

Here is the official Kung Fu Panda 3 plot synopsis:

When Po’s long-lost panda father suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise to meet scores of hilarious new panda characters. But when the supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po must do the impossible—learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas!

Kung Fu Panda 3 features Bryan Cranston as the voice of Po’s dad, while the main voice cast from the previous Kung Fu Panda movies – which, in addition to Black, includes Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, and David Cross – is also back for the third installment.

The Kung Fu Panda 3 teaser trailer indicates the film will carryover the blend of family-friendly humor and old-school kung fu genre elements featured in the first two Panda movies. Such consistency is to be expected, though, seeing as the personnel working behind the scenes (such as co-director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2) and screenwriters Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2)) hasn’t changed much, either.

–

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension opens in U.S. theaters on October 23rd, 2015, followed by Trumbo on November 6th, 2015, The Hateful Eight on December 25th, 2015 in 70 mm theaters (January 8th, 2016, nation-wide), Ride Along 2 on January 15th, 2016, and Kung Fu Panda 3 on January 29th, 2016.